Getting settled into the new house and this summer we are working towards getting the Hideaway back open for our little vacation spot in the next room. Phase one is lots of construction. The room is about 12 X 19 and the ceiling slopes from 6 to 9 feet. It was a laundry room with stairs to the basement.
A bit of water and termite damage to fix. That wall was rebuilt. The closet that was there removed.
What do you do when you have stairs to your basement taking up most of the room?
Build a floor over it!
A lot more to come as we get to it.

Pack for Hukilau? Nah, let's put a floor in the bar honey!

June 19th - 2008Contractors started right after we returned from Hukilau. Did a lot of electrical work putting in outlets around the bar and new lighting wiring etc.
They took off the siding and took out the windows into the kitchen. Pulled wires. Yesterday.
Repairing the wall and getting it ready to put up some sheet rock. More wiring and stuff. Ran speaker wires in the wall. That was today.

June 21, 2008Some drywall up. This is from the kitchen side.
This is from the back wall of the Tapa Room. Got some drywall up. You can see the wire up top where 4 outlets will be put on the ceiling for swag lamps.
This is the bar area. The plumbing needs to get centered here. Wires in place to put outlets on either side of the bar, over and under and a switch that runs to outlets in the ceiling for lots of hanging lights.

June 24, 2008Hard to see this, but there is a short wall to the right that will have shelves in this area for mugs, etc. A switch on the wall controls the wire in the ceiling there. Not sure how it will all be done, but we're "ready."
Did some painting on the rafter and the door.
The drywall is all up and the plumbing is all in place for the sink. Outlets in place for under and over the counter and a switch for the ceiling outlets.

July 4th weekendPut a second coat of paint on the entrance. LOts more here than meets the eye. This door was under a porch last week...

Started finishing out. Mudding the drywall and painting the ceiling in Bamboo Ben approved BLACK. Yes, flat black... The back wall will be painted once we finish with the mud.

The beams a re brown now, but will be covered in carved panels eventually.

Then we started putting down the other side of the floor. This is will be permanent and this is where the bar will be.
You can just see a lip on the edge here so we can put some rope light under the step up so peopel don't trip.

Man, this was a lot of work! If you have ever mudded drywall, you know it's just a pain. The corners in the room were a mess since there was aluminum siding under there! Big nasty gaps to fill and fix. The corner at the ceiling too. Stuff you don't see, but is a lot of work.

We also got Jatoba flooring for the bar this weekend, but we'll have to get a bit further along before we put it in. We don't want to ruin it in the construction.

August 1st

Hung the drywall on this back wall last weekend and started mudding it. This corner will be the display area for the ephemera collection eventually.

August 27th, 2008Not a lot to report. Still doing the basic work. We're hoping the drywall and other things will be finished over the long weekend and we'll be able to put down the floor soon and start the actual bar building and not just get the walls repaired, etc. We want to get to the fun stuff!
Picked a basic color to go on the walls under whatever.

After painting the ceiling flat black, it was still a bit shiney. Any flat surface would be I guess. So, we have gotten some sand texture to add to the paint to reduce that reflection. It is a pain to apply, but it made a big difference when put on heavy enough. The black parts will need to be textured now before the floor goes in.

Labor Day Weekend September 1stFinally! We have finished all the drywall and mudding and sanding and priming! Also put texture back on the ceiling where it was repaired and started texturizing in the bar to cut down on reflections in the black part.
All the painting is done except minor touch ups. The white walls will be covered in tapa cloth.
There is a burnt orange on most of the bar walls and in the back of the mug display area. The ceiling in the Tapa room is a lighter brown and the rafters and door is a dark brown.
That alcove will have shelves for displaying the ephemera.

September 21, 09Installed some light fixtures. Put these track lights up over the display area. Hung tapa cloth in the Tapa Room.
Once the glue dries, we'll need to trim around the ceiling and floor, window and outlets. Eventually we'll trim around it with split bamboo.

Inching our way towards laying down the flooring and starting on the actual bar.

October 20th, 2008Been doing other projects and stuff that isn't really visible. Here is a little update.

We replaced the big flourescent lights in the bar with these from Home Depot. They have a nautical look. These are just the clean up lights and will be off when we are using the bar. Not really bright, but should do the job. The larger round one only came in white, so we had to spray paint it. Moved the small light to the ceiling instead of the rafter so we can add carved trim to the rafter.

Here is the first shelf in the display area. It's about 2 X 6 feet. The top shelf will have lighting built into it for this shelf. Should have them done maybe by the end of the day. Lots of waiting for paint to dry.

Later...
The top shelf is in. Plenty of shelf room and room on the wall for framed ephemera and maybe a secodn higher mug shelf.
With the lights under it for the second shelf.
Coming together. Still need the dimmer on the track lights. Need to finish painting the cords and route that cord under the bottom shelf, but can't do that till it is all finialized. Still need to get under there and put in the flooring and over it install the speaker...

October 25th, 2008So much work to get to this point.
The padding under the flooring.
Laid out the flooring for the room(s). We'll let this flatten over night and see if we can't get it installed tomorrow.
Can't wait! This dark wood flooring is going to really make the room.

October 26thFloor is in. Trimmed up. Tomorrow I will get the baseboards and trim in place and it will be done.

October 27thYeah! Floor is done!
Yikes. Need to wipe off that board down there. Still covered in drywall dust. Or at least never use a flash again...
The big chest under the shelf is circa 1890 and sturdy as hell. It will hold menus and other ephemera and double as seating when needed. Yes, it's that sturdy.
Baseboards, trim amd bamboo trim around all the tapa cloth.
And, in the "it's always something" category, that spot was meant for the Guanko. But, we extended the length of the subfloor OSB so there would be a big overhang where we will install a rope light. And then you add baseboard on the left and trim on the flooring on the right and you end up with being about 1/4 inch short of the Guanko fitting. SO, I will have to dismantle the base and trim it down and reassemble it so it will fit...

Next. we start on the bar!
But, I think I caught Ms Swanky's cold. It has had her sidelined for a week now...

November 1stBuilding the bar now. We have a wet bar with a sink in the back and that needs to be built first.
Used two tapes to give us the lines for the bar and lay it out. Built two boxes for the wet bar area, which will be counter height.
The main box on the floor is level both ways.
4 34 inch legs attached to the base first, then screwed the front posts in and made that level, then leveled each point as we screwed it together.
Cut the boards for the bar itself. Decided to make the bar 18 inches wide all the way down. Was laid out 12 inches at this end. Makes everything simpler and more storage underneath.
Got the bottom done and braced up strong and screwed the top together and braced it a little to make it sturdy. Cut 4 4o inch posts.
Screwed inthe base on the corner posts. After the first attempt with the top, we found the back posts were too long. I guess our floor is not level. Had to take them out and cut a bit off and re-assemble. Made sure we were level and screwed the top in.
View from behind the bar.

Need to brace it more, and screw it into the post and the wall studs and start covering everything in plywood. Also screw it to the floor.

November 2ndAdded more supports across the front and on top.
Attached it tot he wall studs and the pole and to the flooor.
1/4" plywood across the front as just a simplelayer to add onto.
Laid the 3/4" plyswood on top just to get a feel for it.
Had to get back to high school geometry to figure out how to cut this edge to match the angle. Rise over run.
Not ready to screw that piece down, but it's there and looks right.

November 9thLong shot of the room. There's something new.
Cut the first shelf piece out of left over OSB. Love "free" stuff.
Put up a piece on the end of the bar.
And had this installed. What's this? A mini slit. In essence, it's a single room HVAC unit. Heat and air. Keeps us from having to add to our house HVAC and hope it can handle it. Some nice bells and whistles like a timer so we can get the room to the right temperature a half hour before we get off work. A LOT quieter than a window unit. We just have to figure out how to make it "dissapear."

November 16thStarted putting the bottom shelf in. Each piece is cut to fit. Started painting the stuff under and behind the bar. Used a tip from Howland. Watched Lowes paint section for the rejects. Got a color that worked for the room in spaces not seen much and in flat for $5 a gallon. Brad has taken a couple of colors and put them together. You end up with a dark neutral color. Much nicer to paint with a $5 gallon than a $25 gallon.
Just painting what shows. More shelves to go to cover some places.
Cut the second piece for the bar top. Cut 3 inches off the back to shorten the front overhang to 10 inches and the back to 1.
Screwed this layer down to the bar frame. More in the back side than the front. As people lean on the front, the back is where the force will be. The next layer of 3/4 inch plywood will go over this and be attched by screwing up from below.

I also screwed the display shelf to the brackets and put the Guanko in it's cubby hole.

We think we picked out a cheap but decent looking bar top material. We'll see.

July 3rd 2009: Adding a thatch "hut" over the bar area.

Tiki 65 came over and we whipped this into shape in a few hours.

I had a 9 foot thatch umbrella cover and a 6 foot area to cover. Had a bunch of stained bamboo poles we got at Pier 1 cheap.

Started by cutting 1/4 of the thatch umbrella and attaching it to the 2 poles to make 90 degrees. Then took the remaining 3/4 of the thatch and added if overlapping the first piece. It is near invisible where they meet. Tied it to the poles and the thatch together with jute.

Took 3 more poles and tied them together for the inner ribs.

Chris attached the hub of the umbrella to a hook in the corner with wires run through the poles.

Each end of the pole is connected to the ceiling by way of black galvanized wire and eye hooks. We put the holes a bit back from the end to make them more hidden.

We attached the central poles to the corner hub and then began wiring them up to get the structure.

Very floppy looking.

Once cross supports are added inside, it looks more right. Still needs trimmed and "finished. May overlap extar thatch on the end to make it thicker where it hangs off.

Here is the underside. Those pieces of bamboo will be replaced with more of the stained and everything cut to fit and tied in place with jute. But there is still more to do above the thatch to wire in lamps, etc. so we are waiting.

Just a few hours to kill on a vacation night. Making some progress. Hope to have to all open in September for a party.

July 19th, 2008

Did some finishing under the thatch. Where I had painted the ceiling black had to be painted back to match the wall.

The new white door had to be fixed. Painted the inner edges the burnt orange from the walls.
Painted the brown around the edges and cut and glued some fijian tapa cloth on the high areas. Had a very whacky 70's vibe at this point.
Added this tiki and it worked well. Took away that weird 70's vibe.

Ms. Swanky found a bunch of this fabric on Ebay and covered all the stools and we put it up as curtains over the back window in the Tapa Room.

July 25, 2009More help from Tiki 65 Saturday. We had to rehang the thatch over the bar. The support hook was not to our satisfaction and a few other tweaks. That was done. The big job was the bar top install.

We chose to cover the bar in hardwood flooring. 6' X 7.5" pieces.

With each end of the bar angled to match the wall and the support beam, it required a lot of custom cuts. We glued them down, and ran screws up from underneath to hold it in place to the 3/4 plywood.

11 foot bar, that's near 3 feet deep, meant a lot of looking at flooring. We found what we wanted, and it turned out that one box would cover the whole bar. That was a very lucky break on this special order. We could not have bought another piece. Sahara is the color and it is very close to the look of the bar and tables at the Mai Kai. Ours has square pegs in it.

I also reworked the foot rest. Picked to good straight pieces of 5 inch bamboo and cut them to match. We'll do a little decoraing on them and screw them in when we do the bar front later.

The bar moulding is cut and ready to go. Maybe stain it today. Looking to start the back bar now and tile it and install the sink, etc.

August 8th, 2009 You know, you post these pictures and it seems like a snap. Each of these is hours of work and hours of planning...

Finished painting the shelves and added stained trim to the back side of the bar. Also reworked the bar bar 2x4s.

Installed the surround sound speakers and ran cable to the bar.

Put up a little decor. This was a real pain to hang.
Enjoyed the first Mai Tai in the bar...

August 22nd, 2009

Fixed the bamboo footrests. Attached a sort of footer on them to they are a bit off the ground and stable. Really difficult to line things up.

Built the liquor shelves. 4" deep shelves. 4' wide.

And a shelf for the surround sound DVD player.
Painted them.
Hid the speaker wires under split bamboo.
Laid the slate tiles out to see how they fit.
Laid and grouted.
Backsplash in and it all matches the PNG stuff well.
Installed the stained trim.

August 23rdReally a lot going on in the bar now, but not everything warrants a picture. Decor on the walls, etc. Everything is a lot of tweaking and decision making.
Tiki 65 covered the mini split in vinyl to hide it. Yeah!
Thanks Bob & Leroy for our custom order rail post! He also did lots to make the OA rail post ready to install. Just so you know how this was done for your reference: The rail post has a bolt in it and we drilled into the floor and used what is basically a large (3 inch) washer and lock nut to tighten it to the floor. The bamboo cross posts are attached by having specially carved plugs on the rail post and the beam that are exactly the size to fit inside the bamboo. We bolted these plugs to the beam and rail post and slid the bamboo on and screwed the bamboo to the plugs. Also cut the bamboo to form fit the rail. It's a near invisible rail support.

Ms Swanky wired the ceramic tiles to the rails.
Close up of the wiring for the tiles. In the background are some experimental colors for the bar front... Stay tuned...
Here are all 4 tiles in place before the rope wrapping. Oh, and the kapu thing, the 32 inch flat panel TV. The horror! I used to be in the no TV camp. I later realized, we spent in the neighborhood of $10-15k on this tiki bar. We are looking for more reasons to be in here. When it's Tiki time, either no TV, or slideshows of vintage Tiki scenes. When it's SEC football season, we're in the bar shouting at our boys.
Hung the cargo net stuff.

Lots of flash here to show details. When we get done, there will be lots of appropriate lighting shots. Really down to details. Decor. Painting. Touch-up. Should be shaking and serving for Labor Day!

September 6th, 09Collection display shelf getting near done.

Mai Kai section.

Moved in the real bar stuff!

Looking down the 11 foot bar. Near ready.

Used a drop cloth and tea-stained it for the front, with matts behind the masks. The black luan wll be replaced with carved trim and we still need to add the lights behind the masks.

Then we have volcano bowls with friends! Had about 25 people over this weekend.

2010A weekend carving project I have put off for many many months. Redoing the bar front and the rafters.
Basic Maori carving design, and my wife figured out the whole thing could be made with one spiral stamp!
3/4 inch round bit.
Torching it to get rid of all sharp edges and to stain it in one step!

Nice start-looks like a nice space to work with-plenty of lounging room. But how you gonna get in the basement now?
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The cats already think it's a secret lair. We built the floor in sections rather than all the way across. This side is in a 6 foot and 5 foot section. Take the OSB off, pull the cross beams out and you can remove the floor and get access to the basement. There is an inside stairway of course. But if you need to get big furniture items down there, we'll still be able to get to these stairs. The other side of the room will get a permanent floor that the bar will be build on. We have to tear out the inside of that wall there, remove those windows and do the electrical and plumbing work. Patch the kitchen side where the windows were, etc. Also running a duct from the HVAC in here. So, this part of the floor is here to make it easier to work on that, but not prevent working on all that, if that makes sense.

Contractors coming after Hukilau.

Once this hard stuff is done, we get to the fun part. Building the actual wet bar and then decorating. And then of course, breaking it in...

Hey, Swanky. Looks good so far. Do us all a favor & post good pics of the wet bar build, please. I, for one, am right behind you in the building department & if I get to see your screw-ups it'll give me the inspiration to come up with my own screw-ups! Good Luck! Keep us posted!

Contractors started right after we returned from Hukilau. Did a lot of electrical work putting in outlets around the bar and new lighting wiring etc.
They took off the siding and took out the windows into the kitchen. Pulled wires. Yesterday.
Repairing the wall and getting it ready to put up some sheet rock. More wiring and stuff. Ran speaker wires in the wall. That was today.

Not sure. It was "in-wall" guage. Looked like lamp cord. It was already run out to speakers, we just had it put in the walls, out of site. Those wires go out to the lanai, which is another project in the making.

Some drywall up. This is from the kitchen side.

This is from the back wall of the Tapa Room. Got some drywall up. You can see the wire up top where 4 outlets will be put on the ceiling for swag lamps.
This is the bar area. The plumbing needs to get centered here. Wires in place to put outlets on either side of the bar, over and under and a switch that runs to outlets in the ceiling for lots of hanging lights.

Hard to see this, but there is a short wall to the right that will have shelves in this area for mugs, etc. A switch on the wall controls the wire in the ceiling there. Not sure how it will all be done, but we're "ready."
Did some painting on the rafter and the door.
The drywall is all up and the plumbing is all in place for the sink. Outlets in place for under and over the counter and a switch for the ceiling outlets.